


Innocent Attachement

by Wugbug



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Eventual Smooches, M/M, Nappa is tired, WARNING: SAD ENDING, awkward flirting while committing atrocities, awkward teens, because everyone is bi, but it will be cute for a while, no homophobia in space, this is basically just Vegeta and Raditz being cute and blushy teens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-03-13 12:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18941176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wugbug/pseuds/Wugbug
Summary: Two of the last known surviving Saiyans, Vegeta and Raditz have been in Frieza's army since they were small children. They were always close, despite their difference in rank and power level. Now teens, they start to see each other in a new light.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm stepping away from Vegeta/Bulma to follow my multishipping, bisexual urges and write about him smooching a boy.   
> I am working on the next chapter of "The Revenge of Bulma Briefs" but action scenes hard and I just felt like writing dumb boys.

Raditz bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet. “I’m bored! I wanna fight!”

The shuttle was cramped and the three saiyans were impatient. They all agreed that this was the worse part of purging planets: the waiting before they were given the order. Frieza was wringing all the resources he could before getting rid of the population, which meant they were on standby until they got the signal. Which meant boredom. 

Vegeta laughed. “Why? You’re useless in a fight. You might as well hide behind me if you don't want to die.” 

“Hiding behind you would be like hiding behind nothing.” Raditz stuck his tongue out. “‘Cause you're puny.”

Nappa sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Not this again. He swore they had been getting  _ more  _ immature. Sixteen and seventeen years old and they still acted like children. 

Vegeta punched the taller boy’s arm. “Yeah, I got that. Real clever insult.”

“Cleverer than you.” Raditz punched him back, but he was grinning widely.

“You wish.” Vegeta said, rolling his eyes. “There are single celled organisms smarter than you.”

“Oh yeah?” Raditz never knew when to give up. “There are single celled organisms bigger than you.” He ruffled Vegeta's hair and the shorter boy yanked his tail. Raditz yelped. “Hey! That's not fair.”

“You  _ must  _ be stupid if you think there is such a thing as ‘fair’.” Vegeta mocked. He laughed as Raditz pulled his tail away and wrapped it defensively around his waist. 

“Stop your bickering, you little shits.” Nappa said, his back turned to them. He was trying to ignore the two teens, but he knew that tone and he was tired of that tone. That tone was the reason for his migraines. 

“Vegeta started it.” Raditz said, pushing him. 

“I didn't ask who fucking started it!” Nappa retorted. “Act your age, both of you. You are saiyans. Have some pride.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. 

“Raditz doesn't have any of that.” Vegeta said, pushing him back. “That's why he's almost naked all the time.”

Raditz blushed. “I fight better like this. You know that. Pants are too restricting.” 

“You do need all the help you can get.” Vegeta sneered, but he could feel a blush creeping up his face as well. 

“You're just jealous because your scrawny ass could never pull it off!” Raditz looked away, making a rare retreat from their verbal sparring.   

Before Vegeta could retort, his scouted beeped. “That's the signal.” He told the team. “We're moving forward with the purge.”

 

\---

 

Adrenaline pulsed through Raditz's veins as he shot another energy blast. He had been tense all week and this was a real battle. The population of this planet was actually putting up a fight for once. It felt good to fight other warriors instead if just slaughtering noncombatants. 

He heard familiar maniacal laughter, and against his instinct to keep his eyes on the battle, he turned wards the source of the laughter. And his tension. 

Vegeta was engaged in unnecessary hand to hand combat with one of the locals. Raditz could feel his stomach clench as he watched his prince. He was skill and power in a tiny package. 

Raditz hadn't been able to take his eyes off Vegeta for weeks now. It was like a switch had been flipped and Vegeta had gone from seeming like a scrawny kid to to him to . . . Not that. He had always been powerful but now he looked it too. He still hadn't put words to the feeling in his gut but it danced at the edge of his perception. Like the deadly precise dance Vegeta was engaged in across the battlefield. 

Raditz had been watching Vegeta fight since he was a small child and it had always been impressive. But being impressed didn’t explain why his chest felt tight and he was filled with a strange sense of longing.

A pain in his arm brought him back to himself. One of the pesky would be resistance fighters had taken advantage of his distraction and gotten a shot in.

He tore his attention away from Vegeta and focused on the task at hand. 

 

\---

 

Raditz saw the blast and moved without thinking. He threw himself at Vegeta and slammed him into the mud with the force of his weight.

“What the f--” Vegeta was cut off by the heat of the blast as it rushed over them. They stayed like that as the deafening roar of the blast faded away, breathing heavily, the sounds of the battle seemed quieter and farther away. 

The immediate danger passed and Raditz suddenly became hyper aware of how close they were. He was pressing the smaller boy against the ground, straddling him. His face was pressed against the crook of Vegeta's neck and he couldn't help but breath in the smell of him. He smelled like sweat and blood and crackling energy, but somehow it smelled good to him. The places where their bodies touched burned with a fire he didn't understand and his heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest. 

He didn't understand what was happening. They had trained together most of their lives and had ended up in similar positions countless times. 

But this time was different

He could tell Vegeta could feel it too. 

“Raditz.” Vegeta’s voice was soft, but he could hear him clearly. His breath was warm against his cheek. 

Raditz leaned back to look at Vegeta and felt his breath caught in his throat.

Vegeta was looking at him, his eyes wide in confusion. His lips were parted, like he wanted to ask a question. His eyebrows were freed from his permanent scowl and he looked . . .  _ Cute _ . He was covered in mud and blood but that was the only descriptor Raditz could think of.  

Raditz wasn't sure he could think of very much at all at that moment, except the shape of Vegeta's lips and his desire to be closer. 

He definitely wasn't thinking about anything else as he leaned in. 

“Vegeta! Raditz! You boys injured?” Nappa's gruff voice broke the strange spell they were under and suddenly they were back on the battlefield, in the mud.   

“We’re okay!” Raditz winced as he heard his voice come out significantly higher than normal. 

“I'll be fine if Raditz would get the fuck off me!” Vegeta pushed him and Raditz scrambled off of him, failing at his attempt not to blush. 

Nappa sighed, running a blood covered hand through his thinning hair. “Please focus on fighting  _ the enemy _ not each other.”

They jumped back into action but Raditz could feel Vegeta watching him even as they fought. 

 

\---

 

Vegeta was tired and frustrated as he sat in the shuttle on the way back to base. He just wanted to take a shower and go the fuck to sleep. 

He would not let  _ Raditz _ distract him like this. 

He was a weak, third class warrior and if he hadn't been one of three saiyans left he would never even have acknowledged his existence. 

More importantly, he was  _ Raditz _ . He was the one who he had been fighting and training with for 10 years. He was the one who he antagonized Nappa with. Who made him laugh even when things were hopeless. Who was the only living being to see him cry. He wasn't anything special. 

He needed to clear his head. He wasn't sure what happened on the battlefield. It was just battle madness. He didn't think about Raditz  _ that way _ . That would be ridiculous. 

Sure, he could acknowledge that Raditz wasn't  _ unattractive _ . He was tall and had nice thick hair and when he smiled it made his chest feel weird. But that didn't mean he wanted to do anything except punch him in the face. 

"You idiot," Nappa smacked Raditz on the back of the head. "Getting shot like that. What's wrong with you today?" 

Raditz glared up at Nappa from where he sat, bandaging his arm. "It just grazed me."

"It still hit you. You weren't paying attention." Nappa sighed. "If you don't keep your head, you're gonna end up dead." 

"I'm fine." Raditz waved Nappa off. "I was just a little distracted." His face went pink as he glanced quickly over at Vegeta. 

Vegeta grunted and quickly broke eye contact, trying to hide his blush. He turned away from his companions, so he didn't have to look at Raditz's stupid face. Stupid, definitely not handsome face. 

Raditz and Nappa continued to argue and Vegeta tried, and failed, to focus on his mission report. 

When the shuttle finally docked he had a half written report and was no closer to figuring out what the hell was wrong with him. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are distraught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is just for fun, so it is not super well edited. I hope you guys like these dumb boys being stupid and not kissing yet.

Vegeta's confusion didn't get any better over the next week. 

He just wished Raditz would put on pants. It would really make this whole thing much easier to manage.

Not that he was distracted by him or anything. He didn’t really care if Raditz wore pants or not. It was just annoying. He just walked around with his fantastic thighs on display  _ all the time _ . It might give people the wrong idea. 

Vegeta just had to avoid Raditz and he would be fine. 

And that's why he was sneaking off to the showers at this ridiculously early hour. Day and night may not have concrete meaning on a space station, but the semblance of it was important for sanity. And the hour he was awake was certainly not sane. 

The three saiyans usually spend their days as a unit, going about their routine together. They trained, ate, and showered together. He could manage the training fine, because mostly he avoided sparring with Raditz. Meals were awkward, but he could manage it okay. But the showers were too much. 

It shouldn't be weird for them to see each other naked. They had been taking communal showers together since they were small children and had seen each other nude more times than they could count. There had been some awkward glances before, especially in the recent year or so, but things were different now. 

He couldn't very well avoid showering completely. Nappa would notice and he could just see the sneer on Zarbon's face as he called him a "filthy monkey". The only option was showering when no one was around. 

He shouldn't have to go through all this trouble just to avoid Raditz. He should just kick his ass. That should get the bastard out of his head. 

The mammalian showers were blessedly empty. Because no one else was stupid or desperate enough to be up this early. 

Vegeta undressed, shoving his clothes in the locker. Heading to the nearest shower, he turned the water on as hot as it would go. The scalding water helped him block out the memory that had been haunting him all week. The memory of how it felt to have Raditz above him, his body pressing down on him. Was he going to kiss him before they were interrupted? Did Vegeta want him to? 

Vegeta rested his forehead against the wall, his hair plastered down against his neck by the water instead of sticking up like it did naturally. 

It was the fault of that damn meteor. If Planet Vegeta hadn't gotten destroyed, he would have had some much more appropriate noble saiyans to be attracted to, some sons and daughters of the various nobles who had been in the king's favor. It was just that Raditz was the only appropriately aged saiyan left alive. It was just his hormones being stupid. 

A noise brought Vegeta back to the task at hand: cleaning as quickly as he could.  He ran his fingers through his hair and couldn't help but think of Raditz's hair. It was so long and thick. He wanted to run his hands through it. It always looked really nice when it was wet. He imagined Raditz in here with him, the water spraying over both of their bodies and his breath caught in his throat. 

He shook his head and tried to finish cleaning as fast as he could, pushing all thoughts of Raditz's wet body out of his head. Those thoughts led in only one direction and he was not going to do  _ that _ while thinking of Raditz. Not again. 

He rinsed all the soap off and watched it swirl down the drain before shutting the water off and grabbing his towel from the nearby rack. He had only just wrapped it around his waist when the shower room door opened and Raditz walked in, naked as the day he was born. 

His eyes widened when he saw Vegeta and he quickly threw a towel around his waist. 

Why was this so weird? It shouldn't be so weird to see his  _ comrade _ naked. That's all he was. His subordinate. His fellow warrior who he had completely platonic and appropriate feelings for.

“Hey.” Raditz said, staring intently at the nearest shower fixture. 

“Hey.” Vegeta had never really looked at the tile pattern on this floor before. It was impressive, how it seemed specifically designed to be as ugly as possible. 

"It's early."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither." 

The silence lasted no more than a few seconds but it felt like an eternity. Eventually Raditz spoke. “About the other day, I'm s--”

"I don't know what you're talking about." Vegeta interrupted him. 

Raditz didn't say anything for several seconds. Then he sighed. "Vegeta. . . Stop being a dumbass." 

Vegeta's eyes snapped up to Raditz's face. "Bastard." 

Raditz was grinning that stupid grin. "Stop being a fucking wimp and talk to me." 

Vegeta felt anger bubbling up inside him. "Oh, like you didn't come here this early to avoid me too." 

Raditz glanced away, his blush deepening. "I mean, yeah, but. . ." 

Vegeta rolled his eyes. He was done with this. It was all nonsense. He was done with his shower and he was going to leave. 

As he walked by Raditz, the taller boy grabbed his wrist. It set a jolt through Vegeta's whole body. He glared up it him, wanting to tear Raditz's arm out of its socket and beat them both to death with it. But then he made eye contact and he was nearly overwhelmed by his desire to grab Raditz and push him up against the wall and . . . He pushed the thought away. 

"S-screw you!" Vegeta tore his hand away, painfully aware of the other meaning of that verb. He ran over to the lockers, trying to calm his beating heart as he dressed as quickly as possible. 

He definitely did  _ not _ glance back at Raditz as he left and if he did, there was certainly  _ no _ longing in either of their expressions. 

  
  
  


Raditz lay back on his bed, frowning at the ceiling. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had messed everything up somehow. 

Vegeta was, if he was honest, his best friend. His only friend. Despite their massive difference in both status and power level, they depended on each other throughout their childhood. 

And he was worried he might have messed thing up with his stupid little crush. 

He was only a year older than Vegeta but he knew from the first time they met that he was expendable and the other boy wasn't. That had only become more true after their planet was destroyed. Vegeta was their prince, and he was a third class warrior. 

Nappa had drilled it into his head that he may have to give his life for his prince someday. If Vegeta asked, he had to be prepared to do anything. He didn't question orders from his prince. 

There was no place for his own desires in that. 

It was hard to see him as this all powerful ruler sometimes. He was just so. . . Cute. He would never say it too his face because he would likely murder him, but he was just so tiny and fierce. He somehow managed to look adorable even in the middle of battle, bathed in the blood of his enemies. 

But how he looked in the shower earlier. That wasn't cute. That was something else. Something that made him ache deep inside. 

Raditz groaned and hit his head with his palms. This was a mess. He could barely look at Vegeta without these feelings. The affection was one thing, he had admired Vegeta for years. He knew he would get a beating if he told anyone, but when he was younger, he liked to pretend Vegeta was his little brother, like the brother who had been sent away as an infant. 

But lately he was realizing that brotherly affection was not at all how he felt towards the younger boy. This whole sexual attraction thing was really disrupting everything. 

The worst of it was he knew it wasn't one sided.

He knew Vegeta, knew his body language better than anyone. And he knew he felt something too. The look in his eyes when Raditz had grabbed his arm in the shower dispelled any doubt about that. 

But what did they do about it? 

He knew what he  _ wanted _ to do. He wanted to do many things. Mostly involving kissing. 

But, despite what people thought, he was not stupid. He knew that their circumstances were not ideal. They were the last of their people and their lives were at the mercy of Frieza. Vegeta was a prince and he was just a low class warrior and it wouldn’t be appropriate even if things weren’t shit. But as it was, Vegeta was their hope to free them from Frieza. Raditz had to stay out of the way and not be a distraction from that. Nappa had made that clear to him.  

Plus he wasn’t sure if Vegeta would ever  _ admit _ how he felt. He was nothing if not stubborn. 

Raditz sighed. He would just continue like he had been, trying to avoid Vegeta until these feelings got less intense. And hopefully avoid more shower incidents like the one today. And definitely not try to kiss him again in the middle of a battle.

He was trying, and failing, to not think about kissing Vegeta when he door to their living quarters slammed open.

“Raditz!” Vegeta snapped at him. “I need a sparring partner.”

Raditz groaned. He wasn't sure he could take a sparring match with the object of his affection right then. There would be far too much physical contact and most of it would involve him being punched in the face. “I'm tired. . . Get Nappa to be your punching bag.” 

Vegeta stood over him and crossed his arms. “No. You.”

Aww fuck, he really messed up. 


End file.
